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Real Love<br />
Charlotte<br />
Loving of Loving by Nature on<br />
why we need more real nappie shops<br />
Since opening my shop doors two years ago, I have been<br />
pleased to see many more cloth nappy shops either in<br />
the pipeline or opening up all over the UK. <strong>The</strong> main<br />
driver in my opening Loving by Nature was to spread<br />
the word about reusable nappies and provide accessible<br />
advice for anyone wanting to make the switch. I can’t<br />
claim to be the first cloth nappy shop to open though.<br />
Nappy Ever After in Hackney and Plush Pants in Oxford<br />
have been open for several years, as well as Naturally<br />
Baby in Leamington Spa. <strong>The</strong>re are also a number of<br />
small stores that have always stocked one or two cloth<br />
nappy brands, although not their main focus.<br />
<strong>The</strong> reason I think we need more bricks-and-mortar real<br />
nappy shops in the country is simple. Whilst online retail<br />
is brilliant, immediate and accessible, I truly believe that<br />
if we want reusable nappies to become mainstream, we<br />
need to be able to see them up close, in the flesh, in real<br />
life stores across our towns and cities. This isn’t to say<br />
that using cloth is complicated, but there is no denying<br />
that when faced with all the options online, it can be<br />
dizzying and confusing without being able to see how<br />
things work in real life. Personally, I am a very touchyfeely<br />
person and always feel nervous before clicking<br />
‘buy’ online when I haven’t any prior experience of the<br />
product. With something as seemingly alien as cloth<br />
nappies, buying online can seem all the more risky –<br />
especially for first-time parents.<br />
With a physical shop, we are able to open our doors<br />
to anyone passing by, which also means that people<br />
who weren’t necessarily looking to reuse might find us<br />
too. This is vital if we are to break through the barriers<br />
of what is considered ‘normal’ and get real nappies<br />
on more bums across the country. At the moment, if<br />
you want to use real nappies, which thankfully more<br />
and more people do, you need to be quite active<br />
and determined in seeking out sources online and<br />
researching and finding groups you can attend locally<br />
for advice and support.<br />
It has been great to see many supermarkets jumping<br />
on board and stocking some popular real nappie brands<br />
recently. While they might be able to offer knock-down<br />
prices that a small shop never could, what you can’t get<br />
from the supermarket, however, is specialised, informed<br />
advice from someone truly passionate and experienced<br />
in what they are talking about. This means someone<br />
buying their first cloth nappies from a supermarket<br />
may end up ditching the idea if they find they don’t get<br />
on with the particular brand they’ve been trying. So,<br />
while cloth nappies in supermarkets is a fantastic step<br />
in the right direction, I would still urge anyone keen<br />
to give cloth a try to seek the advice and support of<br />
your local, independent distributor. What you also get<br />
from a specialist shop is the opportunity to return if<br />
something isn’t working for you. You’ll get more tailored<br />
advice, the chance to keep learning as you go, as well<br />
as the opportunity to become part of your local cloth<br />
nappy community, should you wish. Plus, they’ll be a far<br />
greater variety of options available to you.<br />
Cloth nappy focussed shops are still a rarity, although<br />
with the soon-to-open Friendly Eco in Bristol, the Real<br />
Nappy Café in London and <strong>The</strong> Nappy Workshop in<br />
Surrey, plus more and more popping up at markets and<br />
events around the country all the time, I am hopeful that<br />
sometime in the near future we may have one in every<br />
town – I would love to open more myself! That said, it is<br />
not an easy gig. Reusable nappies are no cash cow, and I<br />
can assure you that anyone doing this is doing it for the<br />
passion, because they truly believe in the need for it,<br />
and not because they want to make their millions. If we<br />
can make enough to keep a roof over our heads, we’re<br />
happy to keep providing this much-needed service to our<br />
communities - and the environment.<br />
Loving by Nature is open from 10am to 2pm, Tuesdays<br />
to Saturdays and can be found at De Danann Centre, 27<br />
London Road, Dorchester, DT1 1 NF. You can also find out<br />
more online at lbndorset.com<br />
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